Jungle Cruise, formally named Jungle River Cruise and currently named Jungle Cruise: Wildlife Expeditions (at Tokyo Disneyland), is a riverboat amusement ride located in the Adventureland themed section at various Disney theme parks worldwide. The attraction is a simulated riverboat cruise that travels along a waterway using a concealed guidance system through areas with Asian, African, and South American themes. Park guests board replica steam launches from a 1930s British explorers' lodge, and Audio-Animatronic exotic animals are displayed throughout the ride. A live Disney cast member acts as a tour guide and boat skipper, providing passengers with a comedic narrative.
History and Development
The first installation of the ride opened at Disneyland on July 17, 1955, as one of the park's original opening-day attractions. The project was planned by Walt Disney to incorporate a jungle-themed ride into Disneyland's grand opening. Sources of inspiration include the 1955 documentary The African Lion from the True Life Adventures film series, as well as the 1951 adventure film The African Queen. Disney Imagineer Harper Goff referenced The African Queen frequently in his ideas and drew inspiration from the steamer depicted in the film for the ride vehicle design.
Walt Disney originally wanted to use real animals for the attraction, but these plans were abandoned once it was determined that the animals would likely sleep during the day and would not provide a consistent show. Instead, mechanical animals were created, with the team from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954) contributing to their design.
Bill Evans was the Imagineer responsible for landscaping. During development, he was tasked with creating a realistic jungle on a limited budget. In addition to importing actual tropical plants, he incorporated "character plants" which have an exotic appearance despite not being exotic. He used a technique of uprooting local orange trees and replanting them upside-down, growing vines on the exposed roots.
Ride Experience
When the ride first opened, the skippers provided a straightforward, educational narration similar to a nature documentary. According to Behind the Attraction on Disney+, it is theorized that when Walt Disney overheard a guest wanting to skip the ride because they had already ridden it before, he asked Imagineer Marc Davis what could be improved. Davis responded that the ride needed humor, later stating that Disneyland needed to be a place "where people would come in and look at something and actually laugh out loud." Davis created concept art for the modern gags within the ride, helping to overhaul it to its current comedic state.
The ride's water clarity, known as turbidity, is controlled to obscure the boat's guidance system and other mechanical elements. The waterway was originally dyed brown but was later changed to green and then to a bluish-green. The waterway depth is approximately 5 feet (1.5 m).
Locations
Disneyland (Anaheim, California): Opened July 17, 1955. The original 1,920-foot (590 m) waterway was shortened and re-routed in 1994 to make way for the Indiana Jones Adventure. The queue and station are themed as the headquarters and boathouse of the Jungle Navigation Company, set circa 1938.
Magic Kingdom (Walt Disney World, Florida): Opened October 1, 1971. Set as a depression-era British outpost on the Amazon River, operated by the fictional Jungle Navigation Co.
Tokyo Disneyland: Opened April 15, 1983. Renamed Jungle Cruise: Wildlife Expeditions on September 8, 2014, with new special effects and background music. The station is shared with the Western River Railroad.
Hong Kong Disneyland: Opened September 12, 2005, as Jungle River Cruise. Features a significantly different route that circumnavigates Tarzan's Treehouse, with a grand finale involving a battle between fire and water gods. Originally offered three language options (Cantonese, English, and Mandarin) with separate queues.
Disneyland Paris: A Jungle Cruise was not built at Disneyland Paris because several European parks had already copied the concept, and building one would not have provided anything new to European visitors.
Major Changes
In January 2021, Disney announced a major refurbishment to remove culturally insensitive material, including negative depictions of native people. The "headhunter" scenes were replaced with a re-imagined "Trader Sam" storyline and new characters: Felix Pechman XIII (the unlucky skipper), Siobhan "Puffy" Murphy (an Irish ornithologist), Leonard Moss (a Black Canadian botanist), Kon Chunosuke (a Japanese entomologist), and Rosa Sota Dominguez (a Latina artist).
In 2013, a holiday overlay called the "Jingle Cruise" began running at Disneyland and Magic Kingdom, featuring holiday decorations, renamed boats, and a holiday-themed script.
Film Adaptation
A film adaptation titled Jungle Cruise was released in the United States on July 30, 2021, directed by Jaume Collet-Serra and starring Dwayne Johnson, Emily Blunt, Édgar Ramírez, Jack Whitehall, Jesse Plemons, and Paul Giamatti. The film's plot focuses on a group's riverboat journey through a jungle in search of a cure for many diseases. A sequel is in development.
In Popular Culture
- "Weird Al" Yankovic wrote and recorded a song titled "Skipper Dan" about a failed actor who ended up as a tour guide on the Jungle Cruise ride, included on his 2011 album Alpocalypse.
- Actor Kevin Costner worked as a Jungle Cruise skipper at Disneyland before becoming famous.
- The ride was parodied as Timon and Pumbaa's Virtual Safari on The Lion King Special Edition DVD.
